Experiencing God - Judging and being Judged 62

"Therefore, you have no excuse when you judge others; for in passing judgement on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same thing."
Paul's letter to the Romans

St. Paul speaks at length about passing judgement because he knows first hand the damage it can cause to a Christian community.  There's nothing that ruffles feathers more, and raises passions to a fever pitch than the feeling of being judged by another, and passing judgement on another, particularly when it concerns matters of faith and matters of beliefs.  Passing judgement and being judged causes deep rifts and barriers between individuals and groups of Christians in community that can sometimes become irreparable, and yet it is a trap that we can all slip into so easily because it touches us so deeply.  

So what is it we can do when we fall into this trap of judgement, or see others succumbing to judgement?

Saint Paul himself was very familiar with this difficulty and had experienced the deep rifts that had arisen among Christian believers.  In his community in Rome, a divisive dispute arose in his community about whether it was proper to eat meat that had been offered in Sacrifice.  Some thought it was all right while others were highly offended by this practice.  In chapter fourteen of his letter to the Romans, he provides his answer to the problem that had arisen.   

1.  Accept others, for God accepts them - vs. 1-3
Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.  Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.  Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgement on those who eat, for God welcomes them.

2.  Focus on serving, not judging - vs. 4
Who are you to pass judgement on the servants of another.  It is before their own Lord that they will stand and fall.  And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

3.  Focus on God, not opinions - vs. 5-9
Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike.  Let all be fully convinced in their own minds as to what they believe.  Those who observe the day, observe it in honour of the Lord since they give thanks to God.  Also, those who eat, eat in honour of the Lord since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain in honour of the Lord also give thanks to God.  We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.  If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

4.  We are all accountable only to God - vs. 10-13
Why do you pass judgement on your brother or sister?  Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister?  For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God.  Let us therefore no longer pass judgement on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.

God desires that we be united in faith, to work and serve in solidarity with one another.  In those instances where we slip into passing judgement or being judged by others, we need to take this to God in prayer and ask for a humble and repentant heart so that we may always respond to these situations in accordance with His will and His desire.